SYDNEY -- Large swaths of Australia on Sunday sweltered through a heatwave as authorities warned of elevated bushfire risk in an already high-risk fire season during an El Nino weather pattern. The nation's weather forecaster had heatwave alerts in place for Australia's most populous state, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Northern Territory and Western Australia, warning temperatures in some parts of the country could hit the low 40s Celsius (over 104 degrees Fahrenheit). An El Nino is a climate pattern in which unusually warm Pacific Ocean temperatures are associated with phenomena such as cyclones, droughts, wildfires and heatwaves. The high in...Keep on reading: Australia sweats through heatwave, bushfire risk rated ‘extreme’